Lights On!: The Wild Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball

by David Pietrusza

Lights On! chronicles the rise of night baseball. David Pietrusza balances precise research with an eye for intriguing anecdotal material. From the first night game at Nantasket Beach between two department store teams to the experiments of barnstorming teams, to the eventual conversion of the major league clubs, Pietrusza offers insight on this fascinating phase of baseball history. He concludes with an analysis of the effects of nighttime play on the sport. Lights On! will appeal to baseball fans and students of sports history alike. Foreword by Hall of Famer Enos "Country" Slaughter. Includes 13 black and white photographs. Listed in Ron Kaplan's  501 Baseball Books Funs Must Read Before They Die

288 pages, Hardcover

First published July 14, 1997

About the author

David Pietrusza’s books include 1920: The Year of Six Presidents; Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series; 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America's Role in the World; 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies; and 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR—Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny. Rothstein was a finalist for an Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category, and 1920 was honored by Kirkus Reviews as among their "Books of the Year." Pietrusza has appeared on Good Morning America, Morning Joe, The Voice of America, The History Channel, ESPN, NPR, AMC, and C-SPAN. He has spoken at The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, the Harry S Truman library and Museum, and various universities and festivals. He lives in Scotia, New York. Visit davidpietrusza.com

Reviews

[Joel Manuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A chronicle of the lighting of the minor (first) and major leagues (by 1940 or so), drags a little at first but picks up during World War II and the controversies over the installation of lights at Wrigley Field in the 1980s.